Simon Peter Martin was born on April 5, 1845, in Indiana to Thomas Martin and Jane Hubbard. His father was a farmer who owned $1,000 of real estate in 1850. Martin grew up and attended school in Vernon, Indiana. He married Mary Martin on June 9, 1853, and they had at least three children: Ellen, born around 1855; Adeline, born around 1859; and Clarissa, born around 1862. He worked as a farmer in Vernon, and by 1860, he owned $1,800 of real estate and $600 of personal property.

 

He was drafted into the Union army, and he mustered in as a private in Company G of the 58^th Indiana Infantry on September 22, 1864. The regiment took part in General William T. Sherman’s March to the Sea and the Carolinas campaign, and Martin mustered out on June 25, 1865.

 

The family moved to Chariton, Iowa, after the war. By 1870, Martin was working as a dry goods merchant, and he owned $15,000 of real estate and $5,000 of personal property. The family moved to Kansas by the 1880s. He applied for a federal pension in February 1889 and eventually secured one. By the early 1900s, the family was living in Missouri. He died of “general debility” in Kansas City, Missouri, on June 12, 1914.

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